right, you know?"
At the stoplight, he grabbed her hand as a means of comfort, but also to get her attention. Her head finally turned towards him, and their eyes met. Even in the dark of the night, he could see the emotion pooled in her intense gaze.
"You told me to trust my instincts...I love you," she said, and for the first time since the Brittany episode, Kaylee smiled. The smile didn't last long as Ashton jerked the car over to the curb, taking Kaylee by surprise. "What the hell?"
Ashton slammed the car in park and got out, running over to Kaylee's side, yanking the door open and pulling her out. "Would you mind repeating that?" he asked breathlessly.
"Trust my instincts?" she teased, and backed up so that she was leaning against the car. He moved closer to her and surrounded her with his arms. She looked up at him and voiced the words that made his stomach and hers do all sorts of weird things. "I love you, too."
Ashton put his lips on Kaylee's before anything else could be said.
Noah sat alone in the waiting room at the hospital ER. So many thoughts were running rampant through his head, but the dominant one was, "How long has she been doing this, and why haven't I seen the signs?" He just didn't have the answers.
The doctor finally appeared, and told Noah that Brittany was awake and ready to see him. He made his way to her temporary room, not quite sure what to say once he got there.
"If you're here to lecture me, save your breath," she told him as soon as he walked through the curtain. Brittany didn't even make a move to look at him. "I made one little mistake and shot a little too much. It was all your fault anyway."
Noah looked blankly at her. "My fault?"
"Yeah, your fault. If you hadn't forced me to hang out with your bitch sister and your loser friends, this never would have happened. I just needed a little more to get through the night, but I guess I had too much," she tried to reason.
Noah stared at her. This was crazier than anything he had ever dreamed. "Are you that damned stupid? I wasn't the one who put the needle in your arm. I'm not to blame here whatsoever!" he spat at her. "Forgive me for wanting my friends and family to get along with my girlfriend. None of them needed drugs to put up with you, but now, I wouldn't blame them if they did. You need to get some help, some serious help. I thought I could bring back the girl I fell in love with, but was I ever wrong."
"Shut up. I told you I didn't want a lecture," she snapped at him.
"Well, I don't want a controlling, bitch druggie for a girlfriend either. I'll pack your shit and have it sent to you here. Find someone else to sponge off of, and don't ever call me again," Noah growled.
He turned and walked out of the room. His heart was breaking, but he was too furious to let the pain hit him just yet. He couldn't believe how stupid and blind he had been in regards to Brittany. He definitely owed a huge apology to the band, and to his sister.
Chapter 19
The drive home seemed to take forever, when in reality, it only took ten minutes. Those ten minutes slowly ticked off the clock, the anticipation growing with each second that passed. When their destination was finally reached, there was a mad scramble to get in the house.
As soon as the door to Kaylee's bedroom was shut and locked, her lips met Ashton's in a passionate embrace. Those three little words concocted an aphrodisiac like no other, igniting the fire inside both of them.
Clothes were flying through the air as Ashton guided Kaylee backward, towards the bed. The time that their lips parted from each other to remove their clothing took too long, and each felt the urgency to be connected again.
As Ashton trailed his lips down Kaylee's naked body, it fed fuel to the fire inside Kaylee, until his lips met the juncture between her legs. Never before had she been so accepting of this act; it had always made her shy and uncomfortable. Now she was opening up for the world to see...her world, Ashton.
He worked his tongue like he was a dying man, lapping up the last of the water on earth. Each drop that